| -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- The First Major Shift in Business Thinking Since the 1937 Publication of Think and Grow Rich Michael Masterson's New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Ready, Fire, Aim, lays out a completely new approach to business and life. It's the blueprint that helped Michael go from pool installer to self-employed multimillionaire before his 40th birthday. And it's so practical and sensible that anyone with average intelligence can use it to make their first $1 million... $50 million... $100 million or more! Find out more here.
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." St. Augustine December 1988: I've got no job, no money, and seemingly no prospects. Maybe you'd rate digging around in an organic vegetable plot in western Ireland as a fantastic prospect, but not me. I can tell you that organic gardening is bloody hard work for little reward. Rain... mud... frostbitten toes. Slugs... snails... rabbits. The end result? Lettuces and cabbages that resemble lace curtains. Today: I've got the most glamorous job in the world, enough money to give me a very comfortable lifestyle, and the prospect (no, the certainty) of all-expenses-paid trips to China, Estonia, Barcelona, Malaysia, and the Cape Verde Islands. That's my upcoming itinerary. Already this year, I've visited Thailand, Argentina, and the fabulous city of Granada in Spain. How did I become a globetrotter who stays in luxury hotels, dines out on gourmet meals, and knows how to order beer in at least 15 languages? Easy. I became a travel writer. And you can do it too. I have no qualifications whatsoever. I never went to college. And I'm certainly not a trust-fund baby. The secret to becoming a travel writer is simple. All you need to do is WRITE. Write with color, pay attention to detail, and above all write with enthusiasm. You'll soon build up a catalog of clips. And, eventually, there'll come a day when you won't even have to look for assignments. Editors will be calling and asking you to visit far-flung shores. Now I won't pretend that I set out to become a globetrotter. Back in 1988, all I was seeking was a way to earn some money. Writing seemed to offer a solution -- and I soon discovered I had a knack for telling a story. The first piece I ever wrote got published by an English newspaper. It was real estate-related, but you could say it was travel-related too. It was a humorous tale about my search for a bargain cottage in Ireland. I'd had to travel to three counties to find it. Whilst I was building up my clip file, I traveled around Ireland some more. The pieces I wrote then were about Irish pilgrimages, horse fairs, and oyster festivals. And after getting them published in England, I sold the same stories to American and Australian publications. For a local publication, the Irish Press, I wrote about a Buddhist monk in county Cavan, a biodynamic therapist in county Mayo, coal-pit closures in county Leitrim, and an 11-year-old "seannachie" (keeper of lore and traditions) who'd won major prizes at festivals. So here's my first piece of advice... Start out by writing about your own city or locality. It's definitely one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to kick-start your career. What fascinating events or festivals are happening? Has a new restaurant opened? Are there any interesting people you could profile? Whether you live in Nebraska or Hawaii, there's a whole swathe of regional and local publications that are always hungry for new stories and fresh slants. And you can market your articles nationally -- even internationally. Wherever you live may be home, but it's a foreign destination for many of the editors you'll write for. And someone who lives in West Virginia or London may regard New York, Chicago, or San Francisco as fairly exotic. That brings me to my second piece of advice... Write about what you know. It doesn't necessarily have to be travel-related -- though if you can tie in travel, that's great. You might be knowledgeable about antiques, fishing -- even beer. (Any micro-breweries in your area?) When you're starting out, the most important thing is to build up clips -- to show editors that you can tell a story. Write for Web magazines, small publications -- anywhere you can place your story. They might not pay a lot, but you have to be realistic. You're unlikely to get an assignment to investigate the vineyards of New Zealand from a prestigious dollar-a-word travel magazine until an editor has some proof that you can write. Let's rewind and go back to the early 1990s. By this time, I'd had around half a dozen pieces published by the Irish Press. And I'd managed to scrape together enough money for a jaunt to Portugal and Spain. Would the same publisher be interested in articles on Lisbon and northern Portugal for the paper's travel section? Yes, indeed. For those two articles, I got paid $350. Then I asked Columbia, a Catholic U.S. publication, if they would like a story about the Spanish pilgrimage city of Santiago di Compostela. I was going to be there on the city's major feast day. Columbia had already published my story about the annual pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain. The editor said, "Send it in." He offered me $500 with more money for photos. International Living? Would they be interested in something on Portuguese real estate? I got another "yes." Another $300 in the bag. With those four assignments, my trip to Spain and Portugal almost paid for itself. (Back then, those countries were incredibly cheap to visit.) I just wish I'd known then what I know now. In those days, I didn't have a clue about the freebies and perks that are readily available to travel writers! So, third piece of advice... Build up relationships with editors. Once you've had one article published, go back to the same publication with an idea for another story... and another... and another. Once they know you can come up with the goods, they'll think of you when a juicy assignment comes up. That's how I landed my first-ever all-expenses-paid trip. I'd had Irish travel-related stories published by an English newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. One day, completely out of the blue, the editor called and asked me if I'd be interested in going on assignment -- to the jungles of Borneo. Rather than a staff writer, they wanted a freelancer who had never been to Asia before... someone who would see things with "fresh eyes." Would you have turned down an offer to meet headhunters and orangutans... to snorkel in the South China Sea... to loll about on a hammock in the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, sipping gin slings? Welcome to the desperately hard life of a travel writer. [Ed. Note: Does life as a travel writer appeal to you? It could be a lucrative side business or you could do it full-time. Either way, it'll be fun -- and that's the best way to make money. That's the philosophy of ETR's Liberty Street League. Sure, they tackle serious investments (in real estate, precious metals, and stocks, for example)... but they also focus on fun ways to make and save money, often with little side businesses that don't take much time or energy. You can find out all about the Liberty Street League here. Steenie Harvey left school at 15 to live in a hippy squat house in London. She's tended bar in a strip joint... inspected bolts at a factory... waitressed in a Chinese restaurant. Today, she gets paid to visit white-sand Caribbean beaches... wildlife sanctuaries in Borneo... Indian Ocean hideaways... Rome... Paris... London. She's not doing anything that you can't learn to do. So if being a travel writer sounds interesting (how could it not!), visit: www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sh/etra/ for details. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Having Trouble Getting Motivated? It happens to the best of us. But if procrastination becomes a habit -- you're doomed! Let success mentor Bob Cox share with you his strategies for avoiding this pitfall. And that's just a small taste of what he's got to offer...
"Michael's article about how to become what you want to be, in which he said to just do it... was very motivating. I always had a passion for the tabla (an Indian musical instrument). Now I will start learning it immediately."
Malik Kapadia -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended----------------------------------------------------- Don't Even Think of Starting a Business Until You've Read This Book Brian Tracy calls Michael Masterson's Ready, Fire, Aim "an extraordinary book -- full of practiced, proven strategies and techniques to help you make more sales and greater profits than you ever imagined possible." And Robert Ringer says, "What sets Masterson apart from most of the gurus who write about how to do it is that he's actually done it -- over... and over... and over again." Find out just what Michael is saying in his New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller here...
The Language Perfectionist: When You Seek a Venue By Don Hauptman Consider the following sentences: -
"Want close parking to the venue and priority exiting from the parking lots at the end of the event?" -
"Imagine a venue capable of hosting everything from traditional weddings, Baroque chamber music recitals, and Shakespearian drama to modern dance...." -
"Please take the Clean Concert Pledge by clicking on the link below, and let's keep this venue and others clean for everyone to enjoy!" Formerly, venue has always referred to the locality where a trial is held or the scene of a crime. Use of the word by event marketers (an online search turned up hundreds of examples like those above) is relatively recent. This looser use of venue is somewhat pretentious -- as if calling a catering hall or nightclub a venue will make it more impressive. In most cases, a simpler word will suffice, such as location, place, point, scene, or spot. Some years ago a lexicographer friend archly told me, "Your hotel room isn't a venue. If a murder were committed there, it would be a venue." [Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.
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Singer, songwriter. Jackson was born August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, to an African-American working-class family. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but had put aside his musical aspirations to provide for his family as a crane operator. Believing his sons had talent, he molded them into a musical group in the early 1960s. At first, the Behind the scenes, Joseph Jackson pushed his sons to succeed. He was also reportedly known to become violent with them. Michael and his brothers spent endless hours rehearsing and polishing up their act. At first, the Jackson 5 played local gigs and built a strong following. They recorded one single on their own, "Big Boy" with the b-side "You've Changed," but it failed to generate much interest.
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William Bradley "Brad" Pitt[1] (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.
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